Fifty thousand fans from over 100 countries have pre-registered for Rugby World Cup tickets prior to the launch of online sales according to organisers.

Twenty thousand fans from across the world have signed up, while a further 30,000 are New Zealand based registrations. The bulk of international interest has come from the UK, Australia, Ireland, France, USA, South Africa and Canada, although there has been interest from as far afield as Norway, Egypt and China.

Applications go online at 9am New Zealand time on Tuesday and will stay open until May 21. Through official travel packages, 85,000 tickets have already been sold. The tournament starts in 501 days when hosts New Zealand take on Tonga at the redeveloped Eden Park on September 9, 2011. It will run until the final more than a month later at the same venue on October 23 with 20 teams competing.

"This is a fantastic response and shows how popular Rugby World Cup has become around the world," said Martin Snedden, chief executive Rugby New Zealand 2011.

"The rest of the world knows that RWC 2011 is going to be a special event so I urge Kiwi fans to take advantage of this first phase of ticketing. Tomorrow will be a special day for fans. This is the day fans can really embrace RWC 2011 and decide just how they are going to take part in what will be the biggest sporting event this country has seen."